Sweet on Peet

On the experience of shooting a massive movie like 2012: "It was a great group of people. And Roland Emmerich is really great. He is really, really kind and gentle. How you can be kind and gentle and responsible for that many millions of dollars, I'll never understand. I'd be having a nervous breakdown and yelling at people every five minutes if I were responsible for that kind of production, but he's not like that. And I love John Cusack. But it was just a weird coincidence 5that we got to do another movie [previously Martian Child and Identity] together."

Amanda Peet is at the center of destruction in 2012, the awesome end-of-the-world movie starring John Cusack that just opened. When she's not screaming in terror at the apocalypse, she's hilarious. The native New Yorker, who was a star previously in Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and Something's Gotta Give with Diane Keaton, is one of the coolest, funniest, nicest, most comfortable-in-her-own-skin stars we've ever shot. Check out the full cover story in the December issue of SELF—and check out our slideshow of exclusive, online-only quotes and photos from the shoot below!